April 22 – To Osoyoos, British Columbia

Well, we finally made it to our first “destination” of the trip.

After we got off the interstate near Spokane, we travelled across Hwy 2  next to newly plowed and sown fields.

Since our route was taking us by Grand Coulee Dam, I decided to take a bit of a detour so that we could drive along part of the Grand Coulee.

There is a viewpoint that gives a great high view up the coulee.

And click this link for our first photosphere of the trip.

Jennie wandered over to check out the cliff.

Bubbly volcanic rock along the bottom, with a layer of basalt columns up high. I circled tiny Jennie.

After having lunch with a great view, we headed down and drove along the edge towards the dam.

 

Last time we were here in 2011 we stayed at a campground at the base of that rock protruding on the left in the picture above. Here is the link to the post where we climbed it.

http://jennieandstuartontheroad.blogspot.ca/2011/08/august-18-up-steamboat-rock.html

We actually forgot to get pictures of the dam itself. Here are some from our previous visit when we went to see the laser show at night.

http://jennieandstuartontheroad.blogspot.ca/2011/08/august-17-to-grand-coulee-dam.html

Google maps wanted us to take Hwy 155 from the dam going north but our RV GPS wanted to take a more roundabout route. This usually means that it is narrow and steep. I gave it a try anyway. It was both but nothing we couldn’t handle. Thankfully it was very empty so I didn’t hold anyone up as we chugged up the steep sections. Very picturesque.

At the end of Hwy 155 we descended steeply into the American section of the Okanogan Valley.

And headed north to the border.

After an easy easy border crossing it was just a few miles to the NK’Mip RV Park in Osoyoos. It is part of a large aboriginal owned resort that has a conference center, cultural center and winery. We were booked to be here for 7 days but because of the ice storm we were a day late so it is only 6.

We are not right on the lake but have a nice view.

So good to finally have full power and running water.

We did a walk around a portion of the campground tonight. This place is huge. There are over 400 sites, all with full hookups. The section behind us in the picture above has about 50 sites and is the only area that is even remotely empty. In our section, which has the 150 full power 50 amp sites, I saw about 5 empty spots and looking at how built up the sites are, with patios and gazebos it would seem that of those 145 occupied sites, may another 5 were not permanent. I guess with the good weather here, it is a popular place to stay all year. If you do stay all year the charge is only $800 a month including utilities.